The garden is full of blossoms.
The garden is full of stems.
We do not go to the garden to see stems.
We go to garden to see floral genitals.
lovely in color, shape, and fragrance.
Now you may be offended,
(if your lucky, only slightly)
by my use of the word genitals.
I could have used the word flowers
to keep the poem safe and clean.
But it’s not that kind of poem.
It’s a poem about roots,
connections, associations,
one word going deeper into
the truth of thing than another.
It is a poem that forces us to face
what politeness forces us to forget.
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Let me guess, you are confused. Why, you are wondering, is this poem called Jeopardy?
Jeopardy! is an America television quiz show in which questions are presented as answers.
The contestant answers with a question. Who is . . . ? What are . . . ? Perhaps we should
respond to more answers with questions. The word ‘jeopardy’ means to be in a state of
danger, peril, risk. The rules of the game, like the rules of polite society, put us in jeopardy.
To remain in the good opinion of others, we must sometimes use euphemisms and forgo
a word naming a fuller dimension of fact. When seeing a lovely flower, remember, it the
reproductive structure of a plant.